Influence of Spatially Variable Geotechnical Properties of MSW on Stability of Landfill Slopes
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 18, Issue 1
Abstract
Probabilistic slope stability analysis of the municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill slope (height = 30 m and ) with due consideration to the spatial variation of geotechnical properties of MSW (single depth layer versus multilayered depth) is performed. The published data on geotechnical properties of MSW is used to define statistics of spatial variation of geotechnical parameters. Random field theory combined with finite difference numerical code, fast Lagrangian analysis of continua (FLAC) is used. Two-dimensional non-Gaussian homogeneous random field is generated by Cholesky decomposition technique. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to determine the statistics of the stability of the MSW landfill slope, evaluated in terms of factor of safety, and information is utilized to assess the performance in probabilistic framework, i.e., reliability index (). The results of the analysis are compared and discussed in the light of conventional factor of safety approach, in which the geotechnical parameters are considered as uniformly constant. Overall, the results show a decrease in the reliability indices with increase in variation of MSW properties and also highlight the need for consideration of multilayered MSW profile as these factors resulted in reduced reliability indices when compared to the results obtained considering single MSW layer for the whole depth.
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jun 16, 2012
Accepted: Dec 10, 2012
Published online: Dec 12, 2012
Discussion open until: May 12, 2013
Published in print: Jan 1, 2014
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